Francis Pool — Local services in Washington

This pool used to be great. For the past two years the deep (adult) end is closed 75% of the time. The management is rude if you ask if it's opening. It will be 95° and everybody has to cram Into the 4ft lap lane pool like people soup. Several other dc pools have been having this issue as well. In fact last year two people drowned because the deep end was closed with no lifeguard while the pool was open as a whole at the pool off north Capitol I believe Randall pool. Same issue. Assume it's been a staffing issue noone cares to fix. Also the pump/ filter Never seems to be working right at this pool. It was closed yesterday until 4 PM. It's just sad we live in the nation's capital and the public pools are half closed all summer. They even redid all the locker rooms last year.But its pointless if the pool is never open. I've been patient but it's been two years now of this nonsense. **update. So far for the 2025 season the pool has been much better. Seems to have new management. Changing review...

I enjoy swimming here, but the whole experience could be a lot better. It's nice that the lap-swim area hasn't been too crowded any time I've been (and while there were a lot of leaves and twigs in the water earlier in the season, that issue seems to have been fixed); the downside of havings lots of space is that there are no lane dividers (not to mention backstroke flags). The locker room and showers are clear and in good repair, but they're not very consistent about filling the soap dispensers. By far the biggest drawback though is the limited hours and season, and inefficient check-in procedure. For instance, when it opens at 10AM, this means that maybe at 10AM someone opens the rollup gate, but one person still has to write down the name and zipcode of every single visitor. It's a real waste of everyone's time and I don't know why DC Parks doesn't fork out some cash for a gate with something to scan...

This pool is great. It’s one of the nicest ones in the city. The crowd i rages from adult to children and it’s usually maintained at least decently. Across the nation there is a national shortage of lifeguards. Young people get more serious jobs rather than being a lifeguard so everyone is short of lifeguards. Sometimes that means the deep end is not open but for me, that’s no big deal, it’s an attractive setting with tall trees surrounding the pool about 75% of the encircled pool. It’s a wonderful free amenity for...